Instructors

Tom “TK” Kuegler

Tom “TK” Kuegler is the co-founder and managing partner of Wasabi Ventures. Wasabi Ventures has funded, founded or advised over 200 startups since 2003. TK is the author of all three editions of the highly acclaimed book, "Web Advertising and Marketing." He has authored dozens of articles about the Internet and been published in leading publications around the globe. TK spends a great deal of time lecturing at colleges, companies, seminars, and conferences about the corporate benefits of utilizing interactive technologies.

Chris Yeh

Chris Yeh is the co-founder and General Partner of Wasabi Ventures and is the Dean of the Wasabi Ventures Academy. He has been working with high-tech startups since 1995. He is the co-author, along with Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha, of the New York Times bestseller, "The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age". As described in The Start-up of You, Chris' mission statement is "To help interesting people do interesting things." He has been blogging since 2001, both on his personal blogs and as a guest author in outlets like TechCrunch, Mashable, and VentureBeat, and has written over 2,000 posts on topics ranging from the psychology of entrepreneurship to achieving happiness in Silicon Valley. Chris conducts multiple courses for the Startup foundations classes, he plays a major role in the strong network and collaboration at Wasabi Ventures Academy.

Jeff Abbott

Jeff Abbott is a General Partner at Wasabi Ventures, and director of the firms’ technology commercialization and international programs. He is an innovator in online startup education, startup globalization, and technology commercialization and previously ran the Furnace Technology Transfer Accelerator and created the online Startup School program at ASU, ranked in the top 10 in the US for university incubators according to the UBI Global Index. Jeff played a leading role in GE’s digital transformation, has served as a small company CEO, founded a digital marketing agency, performed in C-level roles in two startups, and has taught and guest lectured about marketing, strategy and startups at leading universities in the US and Latin America including: Thunderbird School of Global Management, Tec de Monterrey, ASU, and IPADE. He is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, and is the co-author of two books on international management with Dr. Robert T. Moran.

Jeff teaches courses in ecosystem development, applied innovation, technology commercialization, startup culture and globalization, among others, and works closely with all participants in the academy, especially international students and those working with technology commercialization.

Michele Pesula Kuegler

Michele Pesula Kuegler is the Program Director at Wasabi Ventures Academy and has been part of the startup world since 2007. She is the founder of PeKu Publications, an internet-based publishing company that delivers original content. She also is the Chief Recipe Tester & Editor-in-Chief at Think Tasty. Prior to her career as an entrepreneur, Michele worked in education. During her decade in that role, she helped to build several curricula, worked in various leadership positions, and (of course) managed and instructed individual classrooms. As the Associate Dean, Michele develops and implements the curriculum, oversees marketing and operations, and manages student recruitment and the maturation process.

Staff

Paige Spivey

Paige has been working and growing at Wasabi Ventures as Chris and TK’s executive assistant and marketing coordinator. She supports applicants of the Wasabi Ventures Academy through the application process, as well as the scheduling of classes for the various courses conducted at the Academy. Paige loves to learn new things and has been enjoying her role as marketing coordinator in which she gets the opportunity to learn about startup news, alumni projects, and the latest technology.